Just Some Salt and Pepper: Chocolate Chip Meringue Clouds

This recipe was another first for me. I had wanted to try out meringues when I bought myself a stand mixer, bit I chickened out. I had planned to post a meringue recipe before the holidays but I heard that meringues are finicky. They often didn't set, stuck to pans, we just difficult in general. In the spirit of trying something new in the new year, I decided to just give them a try. I was very pleased to discover that they are not hard at all! I looked up many different variations of this recipe: some called for different flavored extracts, nuts, flour, etc. I decided to just keep it simple: just egg whites, sugar and chocolate chips. No stabilizers or anything and I am very happy to report that they turned out just fine.

I really like the subtle taste of the chocolate in these cookies. It does not overpower the meringue, but the chocolate taste is definitely there.

Chocolate Chip Meringue Clouds

Makes 25 servings, serving size 1 cookie

Ingredients:
Flour, for the baking pan
4 egg whites, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons semisweet chocolate chips, chopped

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F; spray a large baking sheet (or two) with baking spray and lightly sprinkle with all purpose flour; alternatively, you can cover it with parchment paper and spray that with baking spray.

2. Whip egg whites with an electric mixer until they form soft peaks; gradually add in the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time until the mixture forms stiff peaks; gently fold in chocolate chips.

3. Using a tablespoon, drop the cookies onto the prepared baking sheet; bake in the oven for 1 hour, then turn off the oven and let the cookies sit in the oven for another hour.